El arrullo de la araña

Unlike the rest of Campusano's films, here action relies on words. The chosen setting is the interior of a hardware store in the peripheral area of Buenos Aires. Never before has this director used conversations so keenly or circumscribed his tale to such a reduced space. The entire narrative occurs as the store owner, the accountant and the salesmen discuss, while variation is provided by elegant fades of the store or reiterative tracking shots in which we see a spider crawling through the corners of the place.

The chosen subject – power relationships in the workplace and the asymmetric relationship between the capitalist owner and those who have nothing but their labour to offer – informs these formal decisions. And this contained struggle between bosses and employees is sometimes extended to the context of the greater history and the problematic relationship between Europe and the colonised countries, as well as the ominous origin of wealth.